Day 3 (4/7) Palermo

This morning we decided to explore a different part of the city starting with the Royal Palace and the famous Capella Palatina (chapel). We took two city buses to get there (we are now quite familiar with how buses work here). In contrast with Palazzo Mirto, this palace was swarming with tourists – mostly Germans and Italians. The huge former royal palace that was built in the middle ages is the seat of the government now with only the capella and the apartments being accessible to tourists. Capella Palatina was built in 1130. It is beautifully restored. The gold mosaics are spectacular, and reflect the mix of Christian and Arabic heritage. Unfortunately, the place was so crowded that it was hard to really see it. There were no explanations in English, no English guides so all we had was the limited information in the Italy guidebook. After the Capella, we went to see the royal apartments. We had to wait for quite a while together with hundreds of other people for the tour to start. The tour was in Italian only and the tour guide became very upset when non-Italian speaking people (us included) started venturing forward on our own. The apartments (except for King Roger’s room) were really nothing special compared to Palazzo Mirto. The most interesting part was the chamber used by the Sicilian parliament.

Afterwards, we wanted to go to the suburb of Monreale to see a famous cathedral there, which is supposed to be the most beautiful church in Sicily. After a long wait, our bus finally came and it was very crowded. To make things even worse, the traffic became impossible and the bus was moving inch by inch. We decided to get off and go the Palermo cathedral instead. The Palermo cathedral is enormous. The original building was built in the 11th century, but it was changed, added on and rebuilt until the 19th century. It is built in the Arab-Norman style typical in Sicily, but the interior is not that impressive.

Then, we hopped on yet another bus and got down to the harbor area to Porta Felice, walked a small piece of the city wall that is called Mura delli Cattivi and ended in a very interesting area called La Kalsa. It’s a pretty gritty part of town, but in one little street off Piazza della Kalsa, we came across stands with displays of amazing fresh seafood, a few plastic tables and chairs and charcoal grills. People were picking the seafood, which was then thrown on the grill and served with bread or pasta. We decided to give it a try. We ordered mussels and sword fish and a plate of pasta with tomatoes from a stand run by two large brothers who looked like fishermen. We had our doubts at first, but once we tasted the food, we were in culinary heaven.